Stackable frame chicken coop with slidable bottom member

ABSTRACT

A chicken coop, particularly for shipping chickens and other fowl, is provided with a fabricated frame preferably formed of aluminum, the component parts of which are preferably welded together. The bottom of the coop is formed by endwise slidable elements, and the top of the frame is made up of two doors or lids pivoted at their adjacent edges centrally of the length of the coop to swing upwardly. The body of the coop, when fabrication is complete, the bottom elements, and the door or cover units are dipped into a thermoplastic in liquid form. This plastic flows into crevices and corners and seals the construction against the entrance of dirt and bacteria to permit the coop to be steam-cleaned and sterilized without damage and with very little labor.

United States Patent Primary ExaminerRaphael H. Schwartz Att0rney.lohn X. Phillips ABSTRACT: A chicken coop, particularly for shipping chickens and other fowl, is provided with a fabricated frame preferably formed of aluminum, the component parts of which are preferably welded together. The bottom of the coop is formed by endwise slidable'elements, and the top of the frame is made up of two doors or lids pivoted at their adjacent edges centrally of the length of the coop to swing upwardly. The body of the coop, when fabrication is complete, the bottom elements, and the door or cover units are dipped into a thermoplastic in liquid form. This plastic flows into crevices and corners and seals the construction against the entrance of dirt and bacteria to permit the coop to be steam-cleaned and sterilized without damage and with very little labor.

PATENTED SEPI 4 am sum 2 -0F 5 IIIIIIII/IIIIIII INVENTOR Joe H. Jen/(in 5 Q i ATTORNEY STACKABLE FRAME CIIICKEN COOP WITH SLIDABLE BOTTOM MEMBER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Live chickens are customarily shipped to the market in wooden crates, as is well known. These crates are subject to being damaged quite easily; they are difficult to clean, and absorb moisture when wet which promotes the rotting of wood and materially increases the weights of the coops, making themsomewhat more difiicult to handle. These disadvantages are overcome with the present construction.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A coop comprises a frame made up of spaced horizontal rectangular upper and lower frame members, preferably of square closed-section aluminum. The upper frame member is supported with respect to the lower frame member by end and side posts formed of similar material and welded to the top and bottom horizontal frame members. Two of the side posts are arranged centrally of the length of the coop and a pair of spaced transverse braces extend from side to side thereof and are secured to the top frame section and are welded to such section and to opposite sides of the center posts. A bottom crossmember is arranged in the vertical plane of the center the bottom members transversely thereof and adjacent the ends of the crate to facilitate the reception beneath the bottom of the prongs of a fork lift for handling the crate in loading and unloading.

. Before assembling the cover members, the tops of the latter and the four sides of the frame are covered-with perforate sheet metal, preferably in the form of expanded aluminum sheets. These sheets are welded to the upper and lower frame members and to the outer faces of the posts. The covered frame structure, covered door elements and the bottom members are then immersed in a thermoplastic in liquid form, whereby all of the metal parts are covered. Where square corners occur in the frame structure and covers, plastic forms filleted corners, and the edges of the expanded. metal sides are similarly covered by plastic, the comers of which will be filleted. The plastic flows into all crevices, and the method of making the coop thus results in a rugged structure in which .there are no sharp comers to injure the chickens, and which,

when emptied, may be steam-cleaned and sterilized with great facility. It has been found in use that use of the plastic referred to, possessing a reasonable degree of resiliency, tends, together with the other features of the construction, to minimize bruising of the poultry so that they are delivered at their destination in excellent condition.

After the crate has been completed, rubber or similar cushion elements are secured to opposite sideedges of the assembly at the center thereof to be engaged by a tiedown element such as a rope or chain to anchor a plurality of stacked crates during shipping. The force of the tiedown element is absorbed by the central structural elements referred to above, including the vertical side posts. 4

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the frame structure showing one of the cover members closed and the other in vertical open position;

FIG. 2 is a horizontal sectional view through the coop with the expanded metal applied thereto;

FIG. 3 is a central, longitudinal vertical section through the completed coop;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective of an upper comer portion of the frame structure;

FIG. 5 is a greatly enlarged detail section on line 5-5 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 isa detail section, greatly enlarged, taken substantially on line 6--6 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 7 is a section on line 7-7 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 8 isa detail section on line 8-8 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary side elevation of a lower corner portion of the coop; and

FIG. 10 is a section taken substantially on line III-10 of FIG. 2 showing the upper portion of a coop.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In FIGS. 2 and 3 the plastic coating of the elements is not shown because of the size of these views and the impossibility of showing thicknesses on the elements thereof. The plastic coatings are shown in enlarged sections in FIGS. 5 and 6.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown the fabricated frame for the coop comprising vertically spaced upper and lower frame members 10 and 12, respectively. The upper frame member comprises end members 14 and side members 16, while the lower frame member comprises end members 18 and side members 20. These frame members may be made of any suitable material and are preferably formed of closed-section aluminum stock for the reasons that it is light and it facilitates the fabrication of the various elements of the frame. The corners of both frame members are rounded as at 22 to eliminate, as far as possible, sharp corners from the interior of the construction.

End posts 24 are formed of the same material as the upper and lower frame members and are butt-welded thereto. These comer posts are spaced from the corners 22 of the frame members 10 and 12. The upper and lower frame members are connected by side posts 26 spaced from the corners 22, and these posts also are butt-welded to the upper and lower frame members. Similar vertical posts 28 have their upper and lower ends respectively butt-welded to the frame portions 16 and 20. A pair of transverse frame members 30 lie against the bottom surfaces of the frame portions 16 and are welded thereto. The members 30 also lie flat against the side faces of the posts 28 and are similarly welded thereto. A transverse brace 29 similar in cross section to the other frame members is butt-welded at its ends to the inner faces of the frame portions 20.

The two covers for the top of the frame are identical and g each is indicated as a whole by the numeral 32. Each of these The four top corners of the device are provided with, rubber covers comprises a U-shaped frame 34 having side arm portions 36 and a connecting crossmember 38. This element also is preferably made of aluminum and of flat stock and the side members 34 are connected near their ends by a"transverse member 40 of square aluminum stock, preferably the same as the frame members previously described. Similar brace members 42 are butt-welded at their ends respectively to the, cross members 38 and 40.

Referring to FIG. 3, it will be noted that the side arm portions 36 of the covers extend beyond the transverse members 40 as at 44, and hinge-pins 46 extend through such portions" and through the side frame'member 16. Thus both door units 34 are pivoted to the main frame substantially centrally of the length thereof to swing from the lower closed position of the left-hand-door in FIG. 1 to the vertical open position of the right-hand door. Thus substantial-sized openings are provided for placing the poultry in the coop and for removing them therefrom, thus minimizing damage to the poultry. It will be noted particularly in FIG. 4 that adjacent posts 24 and 26 have their upper ends slightly offset inwardly relative to the inner faces of the frame portions 14 and 16 to form shoulders 48. These shoulders support the U-shaped frames 32 of the cover members when the doors are closed.

Referring to FIG. 2, the frame structure previously described is surrounded on four sides by a perforate sheet structure 50,- preferably formed of expanded aluminum sheet metal to provide adequate ventilation for the interior of the coop. This sheet is engaged and welded against the outer faces of all of the posts 24, 26, 28 and against all of the outer faces of the upper and lower frame members 10 and 12. All of the surfaces to which such sheet is welded are smooth and flush except for the slight outward ofi'setting of the end frame members l4 and 16 relative to the associated posts to provide the shoulders 48 referred to above. Each of the door units 32 is similarly provided with an expanded metal sheet 52 (FIG. 3) covering the entire area thereof and each'such sheet is turned down at its edges as at 53 and welded to the U-shaped frame 34 and the upper surfaces of the braces 40 and 42.

Referring to FIG. 3, the bottom of the coop is closed by expanded metal slidable elements 54, the inner ends of which engage in guides 55 carried by the transverse member 29. The outer end of each element 54 is turned downwardly as at 56 and secured to a transverse wooden cleat 57 of substantial depth to provide a space 58 for the insertion of the prongs of a fork lift for elevating the coops to load and unload them. The longitudinal edges of the bottom elements 54 slide in guides 59 secured against the bottoms of the longitudinal frame members 20. In engagement with the tops of the bottom elements 54 are longitudinal frame members 60 having their outer ends welded to the frame members 18 and their inner ends welded to the transverse brace 29. These braces 60 are a permanent part of the frame structure and the bottom elements S4 slide thereagainst. The guides 59 and bottom elements 54 terminate short of the ends of the coop, and the cross members or cleats 57 frictionally engage against the bottom surfaces of the frame members 18, as shown in FIG. 8, to

hold the bottom in position. The cleats 57 are shown in dotted lines in FIG. 2 and have their extremities curved to correspond with the curvature of the corners of the crate structure.

After the main body of the coop, the bottom elements, and the cover members have been fabricated, they are separately immersed in a thermoplastic in liquid condition to coat all metal parts. In FIG. it will be seen that the sheet 50 has all of the elements thereof coated as at 62 with the plastic, and adjacent the bottom of the coop this plastic extends over the elements of the bottom frame 12 as at 64, in this case the frame member 20. This is true, of course, at the top of the crate, the posts 24 (FIG. 6) for example, being covered with the plastic as at 66, this plastic extending as at 68 up and around the adjacent frame member 14. The plastic extends inwardly over the shoulder 48 as at 70. The illustrations in FIGS. 5 and 6 are typical of all portions of the main frame construction, all metallic elements being covered with a continuous layer of the plastic.

In FIG. 6, it also will be noted that the sheet 52 of expanded metal is covered with plastic as at 72, this plastic extending completely around the cross member 38 of the door unit as at 74. This plastic covers all metal portions of the door units as will be apparent. After the plastic is set on the door units, the latter are connected to the frame elements 16 by the hinge pins 46. The step of assembling the elements of the frame and welding them together, covering the various parts with expanded metal or the like, and welding it in position, and then completely covering all of the assembled metallic elements with plastic, fills all crevices with plastic. Moreover, the edges of the connecting elements of the expanded metal and the corners of the posts and frame members will be filleted, thus completely eliminating all sharp comers. The plastic is preferably white to reflect heat and assist in keeping the coop cool. The plastic also possesses an appreciable degree of resiliency to sufficiently cushion the poultry thereagainst to assist in preventing the bruising of the poultry. The rounding of all of the corners also greatly assists in'preventing the bruising of the poultry.

It will be understood that the bottom units 54 of the expanded metal are also covered with the same type of plastic as at 78. The plastic 64 around the bottom frame members 18 also extends around and covers the guides 59, as at 80.

Each corner of the structure, after assembly, is provided with a stacking guide 82 as shown in detail in FIG. 4. Each of these guides is curved to correspond to the corner curvature of the frame and is provided with a bottom section 84 riveted as at 86 to the top frame. Each guide 82 is provided with an upwardly extending flange 88 to facilitate the stacking and positioning of crates one above the other.

At each side of the crate centrally of the length thereof there is secured to each frame member 16 a resilient cushion 90, the thickness of which is equal to the thickness of the bottom portion 84 of each stacking guide 82. An upper coop is shown in dotted lines in FIG. 10 and indicated as a whole by the numeral 92, and it will be noted that the bottom of this coop rests on each of the four stacking guides 82 and on the cushions 90, thus providing a solid-resilient support for each upper coop stacked on a lower coop. The cushions 90 of the uppermost coop of a stack are adapted to have passed therearound a flexible member 94, such as a cable as illustrated, or a holddown chain, so that the stack of coops may be adequately anchored in position in a truck or freight car for shipping. The cushions 90 of the uppermost stack thus prevent any damage to such coop when the tiedown element is tensioned. It will be noted that downward force on the top of the uppermost coop will be directly transmitted to the vertical posts 28, braced by the frame members 30, and these posts 28 transmit the thrust downwardly through successive coops. Thus the coops are held rigidly in shape, regardless of the downward pull exerted by the tiedown member 94.

In use, the large centrally pivoted door units permit unusually free access to the coop. for loading and unloading. This involves not only a saving in time, but permits the insertion and removal of individual chickens or other poultry with a minimum chance of damage thereto. Any suitable means may be employed for holding the cover units in closed position. When it is desired to clean a coop, the operator will slide the bottom elements 54 out of the coop, thus facilitating the easy scraping of the cover and the cleaning thereof. The body of the coop then may be steam cleaned or otherwise cleansed without any damage whatever to the structure. The elimination of sharp concave corners and cracks and crevices due to the use of the plastic, prevents any accumulation of dirt or bacteria, thus facilitating the complete cleaning and sterilizing of the structure. After being cleaned, the bottom elements 54 may be inserted into operative position, whereupon the coop is ready for further use. i

It is to be understood that the form of the invention herewith shown and described is to be taken as a preferred example of the same, and that various changes in the steps of the method and in the shape, form and arrangement of parts may be made as do not depart from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

1. A cooplike structure comprising a frame fabricated of structural elements of beam section and including spaced upper and lower frame members, a structure including vertical posts connected at their upper and lower ends respectively to said upper and lower frame members and forming therewith a receptacle, transverse frame members extending across the structure centrally of the length thereof and fixed at their ends respectively to said upper and lower frame members, a door for the top of such structure comprising a frame including a U- shaped member the free ends of which are pivotally connected to the sides of said upper frame member adjacent said transverse frame member, two door units for the top of said frame structure both pivotally connected thereto, perforate metal sheets completely covering the sides of said frame structure, and a coating of an integral layer of thermal plastic covering all of the elements of said frame structure and said perforate metal to close and fillet all sharp comers thereof and to fill all cracks and crevices within the structure, whereby the entire structure can be cleaned to render it completely sterile.

2. A structure according to claim 1 wherein both door units have the tops thereof covered throughout their areas with perforated metal fixed thereto.

3. A structure accordingto claim 2 wherein said door units, including said perforate metal covers, are covered completely with an integral layer of a thermoplastic to fillet all sharp corners and fill all cracks and crevices whereby said door units will be rendered sterile by the cleaning of the entire structure.

4. A structure according to claim 3 wherein said bottom frame is provided with guides, and bottom elements slidable in said guides to be removed from the structure for cleaning.

5. A structure according to claim 4 provided with transverse downwardly extending portions fixed to said bottom elements therebeneath to form a space therebetween for the entrance of the forks of a fork lift to facilitate the lifting of the structure.

6. A structure according to claim 1, wherein two of said vertical posts are arranged at opposite sides of the structure intermediate the length thereof, and cushion members secured against said upper frame members in vertical alignment respectively with said two posts whereby a flexible tiedown 

1. A cooplike structure comprising a frame fabricated of structural elements of beam section and including spaced upper and lower frame members, a structure including vertical posts connected at their upper and lower ends respectively to said upper and lower frame members and forming therewith a receptacle, transverse frame members extending across the structure centrally of the length thereof and fixed at their ends respectively to said upper and lower frame members, a door for the top of such structure comprising a frame including a U-shaped member the free ends of which are pivotally connected to the sides of said upper frame member adjacent said transverse frame member, two door units for the top of said frame structure both pivotally connected thereto, perforate metal sheets completely covering the sides of said frame structure, and a coating of an integral layer of thermal plastic covering all of the elements of said frame structure and said perforate metal to close and fillet all sharp corners thereof and to fill all cracks and crevices within the structure, whereby the entire structure can be cleaned to render it completely sterile.
 2. A structure according to claim 1 wherein both door units have the tops thereof covered throughout their areas with perforated metal fixed thereto.
 3. A structure according to claim 2 wherein said door units, including said perforate metal covers, are covered completely with an integral layer of a thermoplastic to fillet all sharp corners and fill all cracks and crevices whereby said door units will be rendered sterile by the cleaning of the entire structure.
 4. A structure according to claim 3 wherein said bottom frame is provided with guides, and bottom elements slidable in said guides to be removed from the structure for cleaning.
 5. A structure according to claim 4 provided with transverse downwardly extending portions fixed to said bottom elements therebeneath to form a space therebetween for the entrance of the forks of a fork lift to facilitate the lifting of the structure.
 6. A structure according to claim 1, wherein two of said vertical posts are arranged at opposite sides of the structure intermediate the length thereof, and cushion members secured against said upper frame members in vertical alignment respectively with said two posts whereby a flexible tiedown element, passing across the top of the structure, will bear on said cushions and the downward force thereof will be absorbed by said two vertical posts.
 7. A structure according to claim 6 wherein each corner of the top of the structure is provided with upwardly extending stacking guides each having a bottom element resting on said upper frame structure and of a thickness equal to the thickness of said cushions whereby a top structure resting on another structure therebeneath will be supported squarely on said cushions and said bottom elements of said stacking guides. 